The Widow's Call - DISCONTINUED
by vK 3 1 RON
Summary: Semi-Sequel to 'A Confused Christmas For Marco' - Mewmans are being kidnapped, left, right, centre - all around - eventually even some people close to Star vanish too. Will Star and Marco be able to figure out who/what's doing it and why? DISCONTINUED.
1. Cookies

Heyoo, new fanfic here we come - like it says in the summary, this is a sequel to 'A Confused Christmas For Marco', it's pretty mandatory - chapter 1-2 is a bit iffy but I swear it does get better. To be honest, you could skip those and start at 3... Maybe.

Twitter: vKAtFanfic_Net - I provide updates on new chapters and fic when the site just bums me over.

Finally, this may/probably will turn into an 'M' rated fanfiction later down the line. So if it disappears one day from your list, try searching through the 'M' fics too! Enjoy ~

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Spring was in full effect by now: Green had once again taken over the kingdom of Mewni by storm, unfortunately, just like Earth – pollen was a thing here. Meaning Marco would be very uncomfortable for the foreseeable future. This story begins in the same location as before, the Butterfly Castle. However, unlike last time, it was not dreary winter night with solemnness surrounding the castle. Instead it had a beautiful rose garden flourishing below to which Eclipsa made sure to take extra care of, nobody knew why she held such a fondness for that garden.

Moving on further up the gigantic castle, we eventually reach the rec. room, where Marco and Tom were currently preparing for Mewni's annual 'Table Tennis Championship Tournament', after getting over their differences and understanding each other more they had found that they actually played very well together in table tennis. They had Star whip up clones of themselves so that they could verse players of equal skill, unsurprisingly, it was currently at 32-31 to the real. Anyone that understands table tennis rules would be able to tell you that usually a round of a game ends when one side reaches 11 points. The caveat being that it has to be by a 2 point margin… Meaning that because they were identically skilled players this was highly unlikely to happen.

They were on their last round now, it was best out of 5, with each side being on 2-2. Whoever won this set takes all. The two, who at this point were very enveloped in a sense of pure concentration, took half a side each - same to their opposites. Marco was handling the left side, adjacent to Fom (Fake Tom), whereas Tom was taking right, opposite to Farco. _Come on, just one more hit!_ Marco thought to himself, a bead of sweat dripping down his temple: He didn't care.

"Tom!" He yelled.

"I know dammit!" Tom hastily replied before putting an absurd amount of spin on the ball, it duped Fom into thinking it was coming for him, when at the last moment just before connecting to his racket – it made a sharp right and headed for Farco who wasn't prepared for such an attack and in a moment of panic didn't know what to do, eventually leading him to dropping the ball off the table.

With that, the game had ended, the real team had won. "Yes!" Cried Marco in glee after 3 hours of consecutive table tennis. Tom had just dropped on the floor in victory, throwing 1 open hand into the air for Marco to respond with a powerful, victorious high-five.

 _ **In the Kitchen**_

Kelly had dropped on over to see Star, and the two were currently baking cookies in the kitchen. Kelly was a very good cook in fact, or at least a very clean one, virtually 0 mess around her workstation or her apron. Meanwhile, the same could not be said for Star, she had flour dropped on the floor, her apron, the table – I'm pretty sure she had even managed to get some on the ceiling: I'm not gonna question it.

"It feels like forever since we've hung out like this Kel." Star chirped.

"Yeah it's definitely been far too long." She replied in a casual tone, contradictory to her face which was completely focused on her mixing. Kelly had even slightly poked her tongue out, which made her face cute but deadly serious.

"So how have you and Tad been lately?" An inquisitive Star pried.

"Well, he's finally moved out… I think. So that's good, but we haven't really seen or talked much since." She didn't seem to fazed or bothered when saying this, it seems like she really must be over him.

"Good for you! He was always so clingy." Star confessed, with her face now looking as if she was trying to set the mixture on fire with her mind.

Kelly let out a light giggle at this, "Yeah I guess he was."

The time had come for them to add the chocolate, while Kelly was moderately increasing the amount in her mix, being sure to not over-do it, Star had pretty much dropped the entire bowl of them in, this made Kelly give her a peculiar glare. "Well there's no point in baking chocolate cookies if you only have 2 pieces of chocolate in one."

I mean, she wasn't wrong. But I don't think this is what people meant when saying 'Frivolously add the chocolate chips.' This strange tree of logical thought process convinced Kelly to just go and have fun, so she did the same and dropped the entire bowl of chips into the mixture. The two laughed at her change of heart and began to lay them into their shapes.

Once they had been put onto a tray, they carefully placed them in the oven, being certain not to touch any metal pieces. "Well that was exhausting, I'm going to freshen up in the washroom." Kelly informed whilst strolling out of the room.

"Okay, catch you later!" Star shouted back.

…

A few moments had passed, Star was sitting down now, overlooking her and Kelly's creations rising in the oven. _Rise! Rise my pretties! Rise so I can eat you!_ The last part of the thought was accompanied by a slight dribble that escaped Princess Butterfly's mouth. "Ooo they smell dazzling." Came a voice from one of the pictures in the room.

"Who's there!?" Star demanded.

"Calm down love, it's only me." Said the painting as it swung open and a short, green-haired woman stepped down from it.

Startled by the reveal, Star interrogated, "Eclipsa! What are you doing here?"

"Well it gets dreadfully boring up in that castle all alone, I'm sure I mentioned that there are hidden passages all around the castle to you before." She recalled.

"But this was a new room since… Well… you got froze." A confused look was plastered on Star's face at this point, trying to piece together how she could've known.

"Pssh, I was frozen over 300 years ago, this room is at max 100 years old. Do you honestly think I was the only Princess to know about these tunnels and therefore extend their reach?" She raised a valid point, but Star couldn't believe that there were other princess' that found these secret routes and she hadn't until Eclipsa told her.

"Ok… But that still doesn't answer 'Why are you even here?'"

"I mean, I was originally here to remove one of your toes for throwing crap onto my beautiful rose garden-" She started,

Only to be interrupted by Star at the mentioning of losing her toes "What!?"

"Oh be quiet, it was only a joke – I'd never remove the toes of someone so preciously adorable." This had earned a slight awkward laugh from Star as she glanced around the room, looking for anything to give her comfort.

"But, I saw that you were in the kitchen making something, so I thought I'd take a peek-sy first, and let me tell you little Star. I am not disappointed, therefore, I will allow you to pay me back in chocolate cookies! 5 Should suffice for the amount of work I had to go through in order to return my garden to it's original state." I mean, it was a fair deal to be honest – destroy someone's garden and you give them a few cookies.

"They're not ready yet though." Star noted.

"So be it, use these tunnels and bring them to me at night, if you don't… Don't go to sleep." She warned. The atmosphere had changed, it felt dark, cold as if all jolliness had just been sucked out by an inescapable abyss.

Until Eclipsa followed up with another hearty chuckle and added "It's just a joke, loosen up a little. If you don't bring them tonight I'll just be sad, and perhaps a little mad." Before Star had chance to reply she could hear Kelly walking back towards the kitchen, she turned around to face the direction of Kelly's entrance, but when she looked behind her for Eclipsa – the painting was already closed and her eyes vanished into the walls.

"Hey Star! How the cookies doing?" A merry Kelly asked.

"Good… They're doing good." Star replied in an indifferent tone.

 _ **Evening**_

After months of Marco and Star's baby steps they had eventually reached to the point where they'd frequently sleep in the same bed together, nothing more. But it was a step forward, as the two were preparing for sleep Star had remembered Eclipsa's request, she had saved some for Marco earlier but Eclipsa was honestly the bigger thread right now then an empty-stomached Marco. With Marco he might go 'Aww Star…' and moan, but with Eclipsa she could cut off your arm and still be up for doing more. _Sorry Marco, I'm gonna have to use your cookies to save my arms, and toes, and feet…_

She made up some lie to Marco about having something to do with Glossaryck before going to bed and commanded him to just go to bed without her. Claiming that he needed some rest from all that intense training earlier, after assuring Marco that she'd be fine, she hurried down what-seemed a thousand stairs and arrived at the kitchen where she left Marco's snacks. Realising that there'd be no way she couldn't sneak past the guards and all the way to Eclipsa's tower where there's even more guards, she had decided to use the tunnels.

Using the words that Eclipsa had told her she commanded the painting to open and it did so, entering the tunnels she grabbed her wand which acted as a light source to light up her way. After wandering aimlessly for a few minutes with cookies in tow. It dawned on our little Star: She had no idea where to go from here.

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There we go, chapter 1 out the way - the first 2 chapters will probably be world-building and setting up characters + maybe some foreshadowing or plot points later down the line. I do try to update once a day, but I think if I do it before the last chapter reaches 24H, it doesn't send the fic to the top of the board.

Anywhoo - leave a review, tell me what you think. How can I improve? What do you want to see? I'm going into this not knowing where I'll end up, but I do have somethings planned for later. Not sure how I'll get there though.


	2. The Widow

Double upload now - couldn't yesterday because of being ... Enjoy~

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Star queried on how she'd get to Eclipsa's tower from her point, considering she had no clue as to her whereabouts inside Butterfly Castle. For all she knew, Star could've been going up instead of horizontally: The tunnels were just never-ending, no signs, no illustrations or maps. Anything. This caused her to start panicking, _What if I'm stuck here forever? Lost inside the walls of my own castle… Calm down Star! Deep breaths, *Inhale*… *Exhale*… *Inhale*…_ And so on until she had eventually returned her pulse to a steady rate.

She began to think of any possible solution to her predicament, it had then dawned on her – _The all-seeing Eye! If it can see everything, then it must be able to show me outside the castle and where I am!_ It was a good idea, if she could manage to locate where she was in the castle. She'd know if she needed to head down, right or left. Star then began to chant, "I summon the All-Seeing Eye to tear a hole into the sky. Reveal to me that which is hidden. Unveil to me what is forbidden." As the last word escaped her mouth, a warp began to form in the enclosed space. Slowly building outwards with purple streaks surrounding itself, it had filled the entire diameter of the tunnel which restricted Star's view to the other side.

"Show me where I am." It obliged and demonstrated that she had been going the right way… Sort of. The girl had been going down which is what she wanted, but just so happened that she needed to be on the other side of the castle.

"Can you show me the tunnel system?" It obliged again and outlines in yellow the tunnels, they were massive! Ginormous structures indeed. How a few princess' managed to build all these remained a mystery. Star then decided to test her luck, "Could you take me to Eclipsa's tower?"

It remained silent for what seemed forever, before slowly moving on into the tunnels, stunned at first by it's lack of communication. Star hurriedly started to follow, not wanting to lose her one and only map out of this maze.

After 12 minutes of crawling and following the warm entity, it began to slow down in movement. Star followed its lead, not wanting to bump into it. Without any further warning it simply started to collapse in on itself, "No! Don't go! Wait, you haven-" *Poof*. _If it's stopped here then it must mean that the entrance is close._ Star continued to survey the area, using her wand as a torch. Miss Butterfly had started to lose faith in an entrance's existence - until she came to the side of the tunnel above her. There laid a metal cover that seemed easily removable.

The princess pushed all of her might into an attempt at opening the cover, _Come on… Nearly there!_ It was budging but not enough to be able to squeeze Star through.

That was until the lid had been picked up like a childish toy by a pair of long, green gloves, which then reached down to pick up Star. In acceptance of the hand, Star had then been raised into a dark room. The silhouette that picked her up proceeded to walk over to a candle light and put a small flame in it, illuminating the room: It was Eclipsa's! _Yes, I made it!_ She thought to herself with a slight smile beginning to form on her face.

"What are you doing here at this time?" Eclipsa asked, who had completely forgotten about her earlier demand.

"I came to deliver the cookies from this afternoon." Came a casual reply from our little Butterfly.

"Oh haha," she started, "you are precious my darling. I wasn't serious about you needing to sneak out!"

"So I didn't need to come all this way?" She replied with her smile starting to deflate into a defeated look.

"Heavens no. But you're here now, might as well enjoy them. Care to join me?" Eclipsa playfully asked.

"Might as well I suppose."

…

The two proceeded to talk for some time, catching up since they hadn't seen each other in a while. "How did you know I was here anyway?" Star inquisitively asked.

"You do know that I created the spells in the forbidden chapter? Detecting one of them near me was like second nature." Eclipsa explained. It makes sense, she should be able to notice if one of her spells was being used in a radius near her, directly under her room would probably be close enough.

"Ok… Oh another thing!" Star began, "How did you lift up that cover?! It weighed like a tonne!"

"A woman never reveals her secrets." Was the only response Star received with a sly wink to accompany it. This caused Star to puff her cheeks at Eclipsa, despite this technique working on Marco 100% of the time, it had little effect on Eclipsa and she only laughed in return. After this the two grabbed a couple cookies out the bag Star had brought and began to munch on them.

Once they had both completed their cookies, Eclipsa turned to Star and asked "Have you ever heard of the Widow?"

"You mean like… The spider from Earth?" A confused Star responded.

"No no, not a Black Widow, just a 'Widow'?"

"Like… A woman who lost her husband, widow?"

"No. This kind of Widow is much different from either of those, however, it does share characteristics of the spider from Earth. For example, it likes to ensnare its victims. But, it's a lot bigger, and a lot more powerful because of this. I've only heard about it through books, but I've been hearing some rumours lately about people going missing, the evidence found at the scene points to a new 'Widow' have being born." Eclipsa had a deadpan stare inside Star's eyes when she explained this creature.

"Why… Why are you even telling me this?" Star questioned, unsure as to what purpose delivering this news to Star was going to do, she was a fifteen year old girl, what was she meant to do?

"Because… If this is anything like the books I read, it won't stop after just a few people. It'll keep abducting, keep growing in strength. It may come for you one day, and I don't want you to die – Just… Be on your guard sweetie." The last sentence had been delivered with a sincere smile from Eclipsa, for some reason she really took an interest to Star Butterfly; wanted to keep her safe.

"Oh, one last thing darling, before you head back. About the 'Widow'. Nobody has ever seen it and recorded it. Some describe it as having multiple legs, long, thing and spiked. Others describe it as a regular human that's just excessively strong, don't let your guard down for anything. No doubt your parents have heard this news, the royal guard is probably keeping it under wraps as it'd cause a panic." This entire thing, it was madness. Star had never had to face anything similar to this before, with Toffee she could talk with him, predict him, analyse his movements. But this… This was something completely different! Star didn't know what it wanted, how to stop it, any weaknesses or where it could be.

Once the, ' _warning'_ from Eclipsa had finished, Star went back into the tunnels, summoned the eye, and followed it back towards the kitchen. When she arrived back, she walked up the stairs – oblivious to anything around her, stumbled into her room and climbed in bed. Holding onto Marco as if it were the last day of her life.

 **Morning –** _ **Star's Room**_

When Star awoke, she had noticed that the sun was peering in through her curtains onto the wooden floor. It reflected and such an annoyingly perfect angle that no-matter where she put her head, she couldn't escape the infuriating rays of the sun. "Marcoooo," she moaned, "gimme your hoodie." No response. "Marcooo" she groaned a little louder this time, "hoodie." She demanded. But still no reply. Becoming slightly peed off at Marco's indifference to her commands, she opened one eye and felt around in a lazy frenzy with her hand to feel and/or see Marco, but he wasn't there.

 _*Sigh* Where'd that idiot go now?_ She wondered, after a few minutes past and she finally was able to summon the strength to activate her back muscles, she attempted to look around the room only to fall back due to the heaviness of her head. _God dammit._ Second try: Fail. _Third times a charm._ Eventually managing to hold her head up long enough to see that Marco wasn't around, _must be down getting breakfast._ A minute later she heard knocking at the door, "Come in."

It was none other than the karate-kid himself, Mr Diaz. "Hey Star, guess what I got?"

"Huh?"

"Captain Blanche's Sugar Seeds!" He said in an elevated tone whilst giving the box a light shake. At this new information, Star had immediately felt all strength return to her as she dived out of bed and ran up to Marco to: 1) Snatch the box off Marco with her left hand, and 2) Punch him in the stomach, "You do not. Ever. Shake a box of captain blanche's sugar seeds, do you hear me Marco Diaz – I catch you doing that again and we are through." She threatened in a menacing voice while caressing the box, similar to Golem in LOTR.

"Ow Star, there wasn't any need for that was there?" It was his turn to moan, this time in pain instead of laziness.

"Oh man up Diaz." She responded in a cold, distant tone. The two then stared at each other for a long pause, before both started to give each other a light chuckle. Then back to stare, before Marco lightly punched Star in the arm for the punch moments earlier. Which had forced them into a staring contest once more, before Star grabbed her wand "Rainbow Fist Punch!"

"Oh no no no wa-!" Came the response from Marco, slightly reminiscent of Christmas time.

 _ **An Hour Later**_

Marco found himself lying on the cold floor, "Star?" He asked.

"Yes Marco?"

"Why didn't you put me on the bed?" He asked while rubbing his neck.

"Do you have any idea how heavy you are?!" She threw back.

"You have magic!" He argued.

"Oh yeah… Good point." She said, currently sticking her tongue out with an 'oopsie, sorry' face. "Anyway, there's something I need to talk to you about." Star had been planning to tell him all about what Eclipsa had told her last night, but things had gotten a little… Out of hand.

"What is it?" He asked, now standing up and heading towards the bed where Star was sat. After this, she proceeded to tell him all about this 'Widow' and how it had been capturing some people recently, he looked pretty terrified at the idea of a supernatural, legendary being abducting people.

"So… What do we do?" He asked, genuinely curious about how they were planning to deal with it.

"Nothing." Came the response from Star.

"But-"

"Yet. We don't even know what we're looking for, we can't go charging into this. I'll ask my parents about it, you go ask around in the taverns." It was truly inspiring to see how much Star had changed as a person from when she first started to live with Marco to the person she was today. A year ago, had she been giving this same task – she'd grab her wand and try to brute force her way to victory, now she was actually developing a plan in her mind. Constantly throwing out good calls on what their roles should be.

"Good plan. But… Can I go get someone to help with this? I don't know how I feel about walking around a Mewni tavern alone." Marco asked.

"Sure… But who are you going to get?" She replied.

"I was thinking Tom. Ya'know, being the prince of the underworld and all I thought he might have some credibility in those places, or at least a reputation. He might be able to get people to talk." It was a logical thought, and if people weren't willing to talk to him, hey – he _is_ the prince of the underworld, a little _demonstration_ might be needed in order to get some 'sealed' lips to open.

"Good idea, I'll go talk to my parents about it then." Just like that, the two had formulated their first mission in stopping this 'Widow': Recon and Information-gathering.

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 **End:** Review - really gives me a lot of motivation!

Also, follow me on twitter vKAtFanfic_Net for updates, I do post them. Peace~


	3. Counter

**Notes:** Here we go, second chapter today!

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 **Mewni –** _ **In The Village**_

"Achoo!" Yelled Marco, entering the village had made his hay fever swarm back to him.

"You ok there Marco?" Asked Tom, he had been filled in about the whole situation and accepted the invitation to go searching for information, claiming that if it had only been Marco he'd stand no chance at getting people to talk.

"Yeah I'll be fine, just some hay fever is all." He replied in a 'stuffy' tone.

The two had been walking for about 10 minutes before they arrived at their first location, 'The Siren' – turns out the mythical 'Siren' was an actual thing on Mewni and were well-known for their ability at drinking. Once the two entered the front gates, they were greeted by all the shouts and cheers ceasing, everyone in the room had then started to stare at the entrance for what felt like a minute. Tension had slowly been building, Marco had mentally prepared himself for a fight; Tom had started to send some of his magic towards his hands, letting a little bit of smoke start to rise.

The stench of alcohol was the only thing that lingered in the atmosphere, filling in what seemed like an empty abyss. However, without much warning, after everyone had evaluated the two who entered they just returned to their original singing/cheering/booing and of course: Drinking. "Say where should we start?" Marco whispered over to Tom who was currently scanning for anyone that looked shady enough to know about the 'Widow'. Out of the corner of his right eye, he spotted a caped figure, no hood. Just a grey, tattered cape that ran down the man's back, a buzz cut sat atop his scalp and a fresh scar on his left cheek.

"Him." Tom said while being careful not to point, only direct Marco with his eyes.

The two began to casually walk over, they stood next to the man who simply glanced up before returning to his drink. "Hey." Marco started, "you ever heard of a 'Widow'?" He finished, now leaning on the table with one-hand, Tom had simply closed his eyes in a moment of both cringe and defeat. Then to make things even worse, Marco's allergies had to go and act up now, forcing him into an unbearably loud sneeze which had a few heads turning that way.

The figure simply continued to complete his drink, refusing to even acknowledge Marco's presence. After a few moments Marco once again started "Right listen here pa—" before being cut off by the sound of a gold coin hitting the table, this stopped all sound from the room again as everyone had been drawn back to the two; this time they started to whisper amongst themselves ' _Is that a gold coin?'_ One asked, ' _Who the hell are they?'_ another person asked. The man looked up again, but this time he was staring into Tom's slightly frustrated eyes.

"Talk." The utter of the small word from Tom made the figure point to the two seats opposite to him.

"Sit." He spoke in a gruff voice, very manly – something of a cross between Rafael Diaz and King River, but more rough when it came to the beginning and end of his sentences. Tom led the way this time, he sat down, arms crossed – trying his best to look as intimidating as possible. Marco slowly shifted in afterwards, just remaining as quiet as he could realising that Tom had this under control.

"The widow isn't something you can track easily," the man started, this had peaked Marco's interest. "It's very strong, on par or maybe even smarter than the average Mewman. Most people don't know this, but I've seen it first-hand, It can copy the appearance of another being." The last fact had caused Tom's face to twist from one of seriousness to one of thought, his eyes darted around slightly, trying to piece together any countermeasure. To Marco it seemed like something straight from a book, he hadn't fully grasped the situation yet but in time it came to him to: The Widow could be anyone. It could come in, take Star and pretend to be her, nobody would even notice until it'd be too late. "From what I learnt in my time with it, it seems like the Widow has to intake some blood from the person it wants to take the form of. Thus, the reason why it can only shape-shift into living beings. It also seemed like it couldn't return to a shape after changing from it."

"Does it have any weaknesses?" Marco jumped to ask. The man only held out his right hand and sipped the drink with his left.

"It doesn't matter Marco, we've already learnt enough from this guy." Tom stated before getting up to leave, Marco followed.

"Wait!" The man said, "Before you go, a final piece of advice… Come up with a way to identify if you're the real you with friends. If that thing does get one of you, you'll need to know who's real." Solid advice, without any sort of passcode between them there'd be no way to tell if someone had been switched with the Widow. The two nodded to the man before getting up and leaving, once out Marco let out a noticeable sigh.

"We need to go get Star," Tom suggested, "the longer we wait, the more time that thing has to take one of us."

"Agreed." Marco responded, the two then proceeded to walk through the village. This time they had both been checking most of the people they walked by for anyone that was watching them, this had only been met with strange looks from the passing citizens.

 _ **Butterfly Castle**_

"Mom!" Star shouted before running up to Queen Butterfly who had been strolling the hallways, on her way to King River who had been in a meeting to do with 'it'.

"Star?" She questioned before slowing down and facing her daughter.

"Weknowaboutthethingandwewanttohelpbutweneedtogetsomemoreinfo!" She spat out like a computer reciting a line of code.

"Calm down Star." Her mother replied whilst illustrating with her hands the motion to 'slow down'.

"It's about the Widow," Star began, this had only placed a worried expression onto Queen Moon's face, "Marco and I know about it, we want to help but we need some info!" A sceptical Moon looked at Star, unsure as to how her daughter had found out about the Widow-ordeal.

"How did you even-"

"It was Eclipsa." Star confessed, "But that's not the point. Me and Marco nee-"

"Eclipsa! Agh, that silly little witch – Just wait until I get my hands on her." Moon threatened before falling into a paced-stroll, heading towards Eclipsa's domain.

"Listen to me!" Came a shout from Star, "When has hiding the truth and pretending like I can never do anything ever paid off?! Hiding things from me does nothing but hurt both of us in the end. So just stop with the bullshit!" Star exploded, her feelings evident in the way her body had presented itself, uneven – like her mind was in turmoil, her eyes shut – not willing to give any more away to her mother. Legs were bent, meaning that she had enough with everything to do with her mother.

"Language Star!" Moon demanded.

"I'm sorry, but it's true." She calmed down slightly at this next line, her eyes opening and posture gradually returning to its original shape. "Instead of being mad at Eclipsa maybe you should worry about the bigger issue here. Me, Marco and Tom can help. But we need to know what's going on." She pleaded.

…

"Fine." Moon responded. The two then proceeded to a room which they could sit down and discuss, it was a modest room, not nearly as large as the main hall or the war-room. It was more similar to a conference room, one large table in the centre of the room with chairs laid out around it. They both sat down next to each other, after taking a breath, Moon was the one to speak. "There's honestly not much I can tell you other than its taken 3 people in the last week. We doubt it arrived much earlier than that… The only thing left near scenes where those taken were last spotted are tattered, bloody rags. The only lead was a man who had barely escaped with his life after losing his friend – but he was no help, kept on insisting he was drunk the entire time."

"So there's nothing more to it?" Star pried, trying to seek anything that could help them.

"We don't have a clue on how to find it or what it wants. Obviously we can't tell people about it otherwise they'd ask what we plan to do, and in simple terms… We don't know what we're going to do." The Queen then looked down at her lap after saying this in a pathetic gaze. There talk was abruptly interrupted by a loud Marco shouting "Star!" Over and over again with a *Clop Clop Clop* down the hallways, this provoked Star to opening the down and screaming back "HERE!" A few moments later, Tom and Marco could be seen appearing from a corner and running towards them.

After making it to the room, they had then joined in on the conversation, sitting opposite both Star and Moon. "We've learnt something." Marco said, not with a smile which should be expected due to the great revelation, but instead with a solemn look because of what it was they found out. Tom then explained all they found out, making sure to cover every detail. At the end Marco said "That's why we need a phrase or something amongst us."

"I see." Said moon, "That does explain why we found it so hard to locate it with magic, we were locating the wrong thing."

"Ok… So how about 'Silver in the moon'?" Star suggested, it was pretty random and wouldn't easily be guessable. It served it's purpose.

"Great. Let's decide on it now, only those in this room should know about it. Use that exact phrasing or we'll call guards and attack whoever says it wrong. Don't come close to the others without saying this." Tom added, everyone seemingly nodded in response – they had to setup some sort of counter-measure in the case that they had run into the Widow.

"One more thing," started Marco. "If someone else says it, any others wait 3 seconds and respond 'Aye' at the same time, that's how we'll find out if someone is the Widow." They had already formulated a seemingly perfect strategy, albeit very crude at this point – but it was a line of defence that was simple and yet would work extremely effectively.

"Can you tell this to Dad, Mom?" Star asked her mother. This had made Marco look into space for a few moments before returning back to Mewni.

"Sure thing. I assume this meeting is adjourned?" Asked Moon, everyone nodded and began to leave.

"Oh Queen Moon!" Marco, Moon turned her head, by this point everyone else was gone.

"Yes Marco?"

"One last request…"

 **Later –** _ **Marco & Star's Room**_

The three sat there, each person looking at every other. "I think we should all stay here. Where we know we'll be safe." Marco suggested, Tom and Star looked at one another for a second before agreeing to his plan. If they were all in the same room, and remained by each other's side everyday until it had been solved. Then there'd be no chance of the Widow sneaking in. In the case that one person had been excluded for a time, they need only recite the phrase.

"Star can you and Tom setup some magical forcefield around our room?" He beseeched.

"You're coming up with some great ideas today Marco." Star noticed, questioning if Marco had perhaps been taken over, she then glanced to Tom who had noticed this too and so the two stared at him.

"Guys, come on I'm not the Widow. Star, you like cheesy nachos and comedy films, on Christmas you came to Earth and we met in the mall. Tom you and I had a fight over who Star liked most a year ago when we met, before playing table tennis for the first time and dancing to Love Sentence." This had been the proof the two needed to remove Marco from any primary suspect list.

The two magic-wielders proceeded to form an incantation around the room, being extra certain to leave no space untouched. Eventually they were all done and Marco brought up some Captain Blanche's Sugar Seeds for them all to enjoy after a hard day's work. Once they had finished the entire box to the three of them, they all fell into a sugar-induced coma and drifted into unconsciousness.

* * *

 **End:** Twitter: vKAtFanfic_Net

Review - it really does give me a lot of motivation! Peace~


	4. Fiat faciem vos Deus

Hi all! Sorry for not uploading, but if you've been following my twitter, you'll know I'm approaching December Mock exams. I have a Chemistry one on Friday 8th, then Maths Monday, Tuesday is Comp sci and Physics so I'm really struggling to fit revision in.

Usually I'd have school time, homework, some revision and write time. But nowadays, the revision is more important than write time - so if I need to go out, or stay after school or anything for that matter, it'll eat into write time. Sorry about that, but over the weekend I'll try to get out 4 chapters to make up for it! Enjoy~

* * *

 **Next Day –** _ **Star's Room**_

Tom was the first to wake up, he had been sleeping on the sofa in Star's room while Marco – out of respect for Tom – slept on the other couch that laid on the opposite side of the room. In addition to making things a little bit less awkward for the three of them, it also had the added benefit that if the Widow did make it in somehow, the three of them would be spread out and so would most likely wake up if one of them was attacked.

Tom thought that the other two were most likely worn out, he went to the dining hall in order to grab some breakfast. He wasn't too bothered by any people walking near him, figuring that the Widow would've been smart enough to not attack him in the middle of a crowded castle.

 _Man I'm starving. That ride of emotions yesterday was a train wreck._ He thought to himself while yawning. Once he entered the hall there was a selection of food available, he ordered some meat and eggs, something filling but not overwhelming.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Queen Moon entering in her usual formal dress, River had apparently felt tired from all the war-meeting discussion and remained asleep. Tom then noticed that Moon was walking towards him before sitting two seats to the left of him, "Silver in the moon." She called, a moment later Tom quietly responded "Aye." The two then conversed over the matter for a little longer before Moon's food came, after, they both enjoyed their meal knowing at least the other wasn't a demon… Well… A flesh-eating one.

 _ **Star's Room**_

Marco was the next to awaken, once his eyes had focused into view he sat there, processing everything that occurred the day before. That was when Star started to stir, eventually gathering the strength to open her eyes too. Both of them remained like this for some time, neither was in quite full-view of the other and so the two of them were unaware that their counter-part was conscious.

After these moments had passed, Marco's stomach rumbled, consequently alerting Star – she then inched her body up a little to be able to see him, noticing that his eyes were open. "Marco?" Star whispered.

"Oh did I wake you?" He replied, his voice was a little hoarse.

"No. Not really…" A long pause then encompassed the room before she started, "Want to get in bed for a little bit?" Star had needed a little bit of comfort during this time, Marco was happy to oblige her request. Honestly he had been a bit down after figuring out that this monster could be anywhere: Anyone. A bit wavy at first, he managed to climb up and hop over to Star's bed, before climbing in the right-hand-side.

"Perhaps we could stay in here forever?" Suggested Marco, Star only responded with a light laugh before a sigh.

"That'd be lovely." She cooed, "but we couldn't just abandon everyone for our sake." It was regretful indeed, the two enjoyed each other's company and didn't want to have to fight a mythical creature that transcended Mewman knowledge or understanding. Marco simply replied with his own sigh.

"Yeah…"

 _ **10 Minutes Later**_

The two remained in silence, embracing each other, thinking about what the future held from them both. Before a creak sounded in a part of the wall, to the left of Star's bed. The two teens were then woken from their thoughtless-love to greet whatever entity would grace them with it's presence. Neither wished for it to be the Widow but then again, neither could shake the feeling that whatever was about to enter had ill-intent.

The wall then opened up, a small 1x1 meter hole flung open, revealing a figure that had green hair, long gloves and a wicked smile spread across it's face. Star immediately recognised the silhouette to be Eclipsa, this fact let a small frown creep it's way across her face. Realising what Eclipsa was about to say.

A giggle escaped the ex-Queen's mouth before saying "Ooh oh, what's this I've seemed to stumble across?" She began with one hand covering her mouth, "could it be that I've found Princess Star's lover?" She finished. Marco froze after the last sentence escaped her mouth, not knowing how to compute the scene that just unfolded. The Eclipsa, just wandered into Star's bedroom – through a wall – to mockingly state that she just found out about Marco and Star.

"Oh what should I do?" She questioned, "Do I tell Moon? I mean she deserves to know, right? That her daughter is in bed with a boy?"

"No! Don't!" Screamed Star, begging Eclipsa to not tell her mother. Whilst Moon had known about the two, she hadn't been informed that they were sleeping in the same bed together, that would make things especially awkward between them all. That was something they could not risk given the situation.

"Relax darling, it was just another joke. Trust me. If anyone knows about secret relationships: It's me." She did make a convincing argument, it wouldn't benefit her in the slightest to ruin the relationship. Marco had started to reanimate given the time.

"How did you even get in here?" Marco asked, "we put up a forcefield!"

A puzzled look crossed her face before realising and mockingly laughing once more, "That thing?! It couldn't stop a chicken never mind me." The two-lover's faces fell at this, the field that was meant to stop the Widow, broken? So easily. "Don't tell me that was meant to keep the Widow out! It'd have been smashed without a sound!"

A resounding *thump* could then be heard getting louder and closer before bursting through the door, "Star! Marco! You okay?" Shouted Tom before even taking a glimpse at Eclipsa. "Eclipsa…" He said through gritted teeth, fireballs preparing to fire.

"Wait Tom!" Marco said, "She's a good person!" Causing everyone to look at Marco with a 'not-sold' expression.

…

…

"Okay, semi-good person. Kind of." He finished, all of them were at least somewhat satisfied by this correction.

A 'hmmpf' could be heard escaping Eclipsa's lips before saying, "It seems like somebody at least knows how to make a decent forcefield. He noticed when his was broken."

"You broke my shield?" Tom said, getting even so slightly louder and more frustrated, "Do you know how long that took!?"

"About 34 seconds my guess." She casually replied with a superior smile.

"Okay!" Marco shouted at no one in particular, now out of the bed and in between the two. "Enough, Eclipsa what are you doing?"

"Nothing." She stated, "Just here to cause trouble." _Why am I not surprised?_ The other three all thought in unison.

The room fell silent after this. For an eternity… Before Eclipsa turned to leave and hollered back "Catch you later." The wall then sealed itself shut and just like that, she had vanished into the castle's walls.

Marco and co then looked at each other for a moment before Tom left to stand guard at the door while the others prepared themselves for the day. Once done they all left for the courtyard where they had hoped to get some gear, if magic wasn't going to work against the Widow as a prevention measure. Then perhaps blocking themselves in and sealing the room shut might.

The guards saluted as the princess walked by, she smiled at them at happily said to be at ease. They all liked the princess, she was very down-to-earth and enjoyed listening to each and every one of their stories. "Happercap!" She shouted to the smith shop.

A nasally-old voice replied, "Princess? Is that you?" Happercap was the castle master-smith, an excellent man – both in skill and personality. He had started to develop grey hair now on his head, but by God was he an active person. His muscles weren't massive considering he had spent the better half of 40 years in a smith. Happercap enjoyed Star's company, she'd always ask him to make things for her and ask him if she needed any advice. However, he had not been able to see her in a very long time – with her leaving for Earth, then Ludo & Toffee, now this.

Star greeted the man with a large, forceful hug that threatened to break him, "Agh! Careful Princess, you're far too strong to be doing that to me nowadays." This made her loosen her grip, but not by much.

"Say, Happercap. Do you happen to have any weapons or scrap metal that we could have?" A curious look spread over his face.

"What is a nice girl like you gonna do with those?"

"Well wouldn't you like to know." She said while smirking, Eclipsa's personality was evident in this speech.

"Ahh, fine! You can have it. Say boys, what weapons do you want?" He asked the two who lingered behind Star. Marco had decided on a sword, not too massive but just the right size. He had seen so many movies that he figured that ' _becoming one with the sword'_ … ' _letting it become an extension of yourself'_ would be easy… It wasn't.

Tom had opted for a more brute-force approach, carrying a large double-edged axe that had the words ' _Fiat faciem vos Deus'_ engraved upon the base. Roughly translated to ' _Let God Smite You'_ Ironic considering he was the devil's son.

Star had mainly came for the scrap metal, which she used magic to levitate it and bring it up to her room. They all spent the majority of the remaining day melting and placing the metal up – being certain that they had fortifications surrounding the entire room.

Once done they all sighed in and patted each other on the back at a job well-done. "Say I'm starving, what about you guys?" Tom looked at the other two for a reaction, to which they both nodded their heads in agreement.

 **Butterfly Castle –** _ **Dining Hall**_

By this point the sun had been replaced by the moon and the soft white glow entered through the glass panes, giving everything in sight a cold feeling to it. The only solace being the warm food which was prepared by the cooks. They all had sat down and dug into the their food, during which King River emerged through the doors. "Heyoo chaps!" He shouted in his regular boastful voice.

Evidently, he was full of energy considering that he had been resting the entire day after his war-room meeting. "River! Could you do us a favour and say the password?" He demanded.

"Of course, no problem my boy!" He shouted in reply. "Silver on the Moon!" He replied nonchalantly before walking further towards the three.

At this point Marco stood up in a position ready to fight, the other two were about to respond with the response. "Stop." He said, to both River and the other two.

"Marco, what are you doing?" Star asked, "He said it right."

"No he didn't." Marco responded. "What he said was right… But it shouldn't have been." Tom then gave Marco an intrigued look but decided to trust Marco and prepare for a fight, just in case.

"You two?! What are you doing that's my dad, the speech patterns are all fine too!"

"Sorry to be a pain Star. But what he said was wrong." You see…

 _ ***Flashback***_

" _Queen Moon!"_

" _Yes Marco?"_

" _One last thing, when you tell King River the passcode, could you tell him 'Silver in the Stars'? Instead?" Pleaded Marco, this had Queen Moon raise an eyebrow at Marco's sudden request._

" _Why?"_

" _I want only those who were here to know the true code, I'm not saying I suspect your husband. But we can't take any risks, you understand right. If he says what you say to him, then it's fine, we'll tell him the true code after."_

" _Hmm… I see what you're saying. Fine, me lying to my husband will be one of my debts paid to you." She understood that if there was any chance of beating the Widow, they had needed to be certain of who they could trust and who not._

" _That's fine. Just promise me you'll tell him exactly those words."_

" _I will."_

 _ ***End Flashback***_

"Oh I see." Tom had started to piece it together in his head, "That's genius Marco!" A congratulation well-deserved by the Diaz.

"Star… If King River's only communication to one of us after his meeting was Queen Moon, and she told him to say ' _Silver in the stars'._ He shouldn't know our real password." A look of fear and realisation dawned on Star, a mixture of emotions flooded her as her brain functions had started to slow down before looking over to ' _King River'_ with a look of dread.

"That's not River."

* * *

 **End Notes:** Woowie! What a twist! ... No... It wasn't really was it? Pretty predictable? Anyway I knew I wanted to get River as the first victim of the Widow. Is he dead? Maybe. But to be honest the part where I explained what Marco said to Moon before, it worked out better in my head - but I got to writing it and realised that the explanation had a major flaw and so had to change it. Ooopsie.

Anyway, reviewing gives me a lot of inspiration to write, without you telling me if you're ready all I see is the number '70' on all the chapters. Not knowing if people fully read or not, anywhoo - twitter is vKatFanfic_Net I upload posts when I need to inform you, maybe follow or at least bookmark it so you can find out any changes.

Peace~


	5. Weakness

**Notes:** Bit shorter this one, wanted to get the whole 'tension' out of the way, hope I did a decent job.

 **Sn3aker:** Yes... Sorry about that, I had an idea, went to write it - got halfway through only to realise it wasn't a completely finished thought process, I addressed that here, it may seem like a cop-out so I'm sorry for that. But hopefully I won't make the same mistake in the future.

* * *

The four remained in a stand-off. Neither side willing to move for minutes, Star was still recovering from the shock of finding out the figure in front of her, which looked the same as her father wasn't him. Marco had motioned for Tom to prepare but not attack yet, the Widow simply looked onto the three, eventually realising that it's plan had failed and so gave up on acting, revealing a wicked grin that spread ear-to-ear. The look didn't suit King River at all, his eyes held within them a sinister aura which encompassed the room – leaving only a feel of dread and tension in the air.

"Impressive my boy!" The mimic continued his boastful voice.

"Stop." Murmured Star.

"Ha, not into that are we little girl?" It said in a raspier voice before turning towards Marco, "Out of curiosity, how'd you know that I'd say the right password, if any at all?"

"Oh, it was on a whim actually. I just connected two dots, they happened to form a picture, but I couldn't take any risks, so I treated it as if I was 100% certain. You see, when I was in the bar, there was a pair of eyes following Tom and I the entire time, constantly looking – observing. At first, I thought it was just a curious person, but they never looked away until we left. Then, when we were discussing about you in the meeting, there was a suspicious fly on the wall – it hadn't moved the slightest, then once we opened the door it rushed through. This wouldn't be too suspicious usually, but have you ever seen a fly know exactly where an exit to a room was?" He then took a pause to catch his breath.

"If you had been King River then we may have still attacked him, eventually we'd have found out that it wasn't him and let him go, but if it were you… Well you were sure to come out of hiding to defend yourself." The explanation Marco gave seemed to appease the Widow, it relaxed it's shoulders a little before replying.

"I'll say it again, I'm impressed. You got me off someone looking at you weird and a fly? No matter. I was in that bar to kill the man who escaped me, but you beat me to the punch – whether it was coincidence or destiny who knows. I heard that you were taking an interest in me, so I decided it'd be a perfect opportunity to infiltrate the castle. I posed as a fly and listened in, however, once the door had been opened I figured everyone was leaving. I had to prepare to take care of River, make sure no one else interfered. Seems like me early absence was my downfall."

Everything was on display, the big picture had been filled, piece by piece. The two opposing forces, Marco VS Widow were colliding in a battle of wit and control. This round had been given to Marco.

"Well I'll be taking my leave now." Said the mimic as it took it's turn to the door.

"You think we'd let you leave like that?!" Shouted Tom in reply.

"Yes… I do. I have King River, if you let me leave, I'll deliver him to you, completely safe. Albeit a few… scratches." Star worried more and gave Marco a look of desperation, once Marco had seen the tears flow from Star's unblinking eyes he knew what he'd have to do.

"How can we trust you?" Marco asked, a slight bit of anger rising in his voice due to what this thing did to Star.

"Marco. I thought you'd be all on-board with this game of 'cat and mouse'. You like the thrill of hunting me as I hunt you, each person attempting to beat the other into submission." Another grin formed on it's face.

"This once… Only… I'll trust you. If you're as much like me as you say, then you will return him." He had no choice, I mean if he didn't there was a very high probability that they'd never get River back, if he had fought and won then they still wouldn't know where River was. To be honest, Marco still hadn't seen this thing fight but apparently it could take down two men, both of which seemed very combat-capable, without receiving a scratch.

"Marco you can't be serious!" Tom cried, "this is our chance to capture it! End this!" A tone of lividness had emerged on his face now, angry at someone – he didn't even know who anymore. Was it Marco for accepting? The creature for taking River? Or something else?

"Tom! … Look at her." For the first time in minutes, Tom had taken his eyes of the monster, as he glanced towards Star – seeing her tears and look of desertion made him break down. Coming to a realisation that this wasn't the time to fight.

The Widow had taken the second round.

"Well. If that's that, I'll be going." It turned around, once it entered the dark hallways it shifted from River, into a black morph that entered a flux of shapes, reminding Marco that despite how it just looked and sounded, it wasn't human.

Once it had left, the three sat down, recollecting their thoughts – Tom had been staring into the uncaring void for some time now, the same could be said for Star who hadn't dried her tears manually. Instead leaving the air to carry her sorrow away. "I'm sorry." She said in an uneven, cackling voice.

"For what?" Marco asked in a similar slow tone.

"I froze… Just stood there, weighing you down from capturing it." The tears began to form, swell and eventually run.

"Nonsense," Marco said, "If anyone was to blame it was me." He sounded disappointed in this statement, "If I had just made another counter against it, then I could've avoided your father ever been taken… I gambled on him being taken… What does that say about me?" Despite his exterior composure he had started to create his own droplets of self-pity.

"Don't beat yourself up Marco…" Tom confided, "You've been on-point today, all of your plan went correctly. I only sat there being dragged along." No tears had fell from the demon's eyes, but it was evident in his body language that he had felt guilty about his weakness.

"Wow you're all so pitiful." Said a condescending voice from behind one of the columns in the hall. At this comment, all three turned their heads towards the direction to spot a petite woman in a dark dress.

"What do you want Eclipsa?" Marco groaned. She started to approach them before taking a seat and picking up a chicken leg.

"Did you know that I only get soup in that jail? No meat, such a disappointment." This only pissed Marco off more.

"Just tell us what you want witch." Threatened Tom.

"Ooo, someone's spiteful." She cooed. "I had originally come here to get some good food for the first time in weeks, but I saw this event go down and I must say… You were dreadful… Every single one of you failed in my book."

The two boys gave her a face that spoke a thousand words. Star was still gazing into the wooden table, observing every crevice of the mahogany, not even really noticing that Eclipsa was present. Once the ex-Queen had realised Star's ignorance, she raised herself in a royal mannerism from her seat, walked behind Star and slapped her on the back of the head with a loud clap. "No good."

"Oww!" Star cried, "What was that for?!"

"You need to listen to what I'm about to say."

"What is it?" Marco responded in now a tired voice.

"You're all useless. Star, your feelings are preventing you from action. Marco you're overthinking too much and can't ever act on what needs to happen. Tom, you're arrogant and think that everything is black and white, news flash sweetie: It's not. Without Marco in that situation you'd most likely be dead by now, the Widow would've walked over and sat down, then took your head off."

"Get the point." Marco deadpanned.

"What I'm saying is, you all need help. And I can offer that, for a price."

"You can't ever do anything from the good of your heart, can you?" Marco shot back.

"My boy that's lesson number 1. Nothing is free." A sly smile erupted onto her face.

"What the hell would I need from someone like you?" Tom questioned, now Eclipsa had moved her head to face him.

"Well for starters, you have no manners and your power could be so much greater. But you insist on holding yourself back for Star. If a devil can't fully tap into his reservoir then he's useless." A slightly aggravated Tom gave her a dirty look at her insultation of his ability.

"What do you want us to do then?" Star asked.

"Tomorrow, after you get King River back. Head to my castle, you can guide them Star. I'll train you all."

All three stared at her for a moment with a blank look to their faces before a unified " _huh?"_ Escaped their lips.

"How do you even know we'll get dad back?"

"Widows, at least from the legend. Are smarter than humans, this is their downfall. They think that they can obey human rules and still win; it's a pride thing. It'll gave River back. And then once it has – Win the war. But given training you all will at least put up a match." The trio couldn't even process what was going on now, they just had an intense battle of courage between themselves and a transcendent being, now they're being called to train by _the_ Eclipsa. "I know you're all tired, get rest. I'll put up my own field tonight, so you can rest easy."

Regardless of what any of them thought about her, this was a kind offer that none could refuse. Even if they wanted to, their bodies were screaming to accept, so they did. "We start tomorrow?" Tom asked, a little bit of enthusiasm could be heard through his voice – eager to get stronger.

"Yes. But let me give you one rule for using my magic field." All three looked, "No funny-business, you two." Giving Marco and Star a slight wink, Star hadn't noticed as she was still running through ten-thousand things in her head. However, Marco had started to blush and looked at the floor.

 _ **Star's Room**_

All three collapsed on their separate designated areas for sleep, Eclipsa had kept her promise and put up a green, visible to the naked-eye, but massively stronger barrier that held the room in an almost-separate dimension. Given a few moments of shut-eye, the trio slipped into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

 **End Notes:** That's it, like I said - much shorter, but I hope you can see where it's going from here on out. Eclipsa will train them to be better; time for a power-upgrade! :D I could make them super OP and destroy the Widow... But where would the fun be in that? Gonna try and crank more chapters out over weekend, still preparing for that 'Maths' 'Comp Sci' and 'Physics' mock I have next week ;-;

Review - point things out I missed, give me suggestions where you'd like to take the story or a scene you'd like to see in it, if I think it works - I'll add it! Also, it gives me a lot of motivation to write if I see people are actually reading and reviewing than just a number on my stats page.

vKAtFanfic_Net - Twitter, I post updates on things that I can't make a separate chapter for, bookmark the page or follow me to get those :)


	6. Training

**Notes:** If it was unclear, I want Marco to be more perceptive, intelligent/strategic and a little bit more like a detective in this fanfiction. Some old characteristics like his love for Nachos might appear soon, but right now I want his serious side to show a little more. I think it adds to it if Marco is smarter than the rest, and we tell the story out of his mind more so than the prequel to this had done. It's similar to how the 'Sherlock Holmes' books were written, where the audience saw things through Watson's eyes and not Holme's.

Enjoy~

* * *

 _ **Next Morning**_

The three awoke at mid-day, each exhausted for different reasons. But they all shared one strain of exhaustion: Emotional. Once awake, Marco was the first to speak. "Anyone get a good night sleep?" He groggily asked.

"It was better with Eclipsa's barrier there." Star replied in a half-present tone, that was when the bells of the castle began to ring. One after the other for minutes, it signalled that the King had returned from a hunt. However, those three knew differently, he wasn't returning from a hunt but from being hunted. Star summoned all her effort to grapple out of her bed and darted out the room with a loud thump. Marco and Tom smiled at this, it was nice to see Star behave somewhat like her normal self – full of energy and spirit.

 _ **Dining Hall**_

Tom was still preparing himself for the day back in Star's bedroom, so Marco went on ahead of him seeing how he had greatly desired some calories to calm his racking brain. Once he entered he had noticed that there were barely any staff, only Moon, Star and River remained in the seating at the centre. After scanning the room for any changes, it looked normal, the clan vigil and banners hung across the sides in perfect symmetry. A large buffet sized table existed at the front of the room which stocked up on Meat, eggs and most importantly: Corn.

Marco began to walk up to the table, there was no need for a password anymore – the Widow had already found out about it so there wouldn't be much point to it.

"Ahh! Marco my boy! I understand you were greatly responsible for my rescue!" He congratulated after standing up and facing the lad. It seemed as if he had returned to his old-self very quickly, not fazed by the capture.

"It was really nothing River, anything for a friend." The King then smiled at Marco for his humbleness and companionship, he then reached out for a hand-shake. But when Marco was about to take it he abandoned that motion and grabbed Marco in for a bear hug – the likes of which were surprisingly to not crush the Diaz.

River then whispered, "Thank you Marco. You've done so much for us, I can't repay you." Marco was taken aback by this comment from the King. It had always seemed like no matter what he did, he couldn't even gain the acknowledgement he had so desperately craved. But here was the King telling the ex-knight of the laundry that he had noticed him all those times and was so appreciative of him for it all. After all the praise he just received from his girlfriend's father, a silent tear brimmed in the boy's eye, this one was oppositely charged compared to the others he had shed recently.

"Yes Marco, you have done so much – we're thankful from the deepest depths of our hearts." Moon said, now holding onto River with a powerful grasp. "River and I will grant you a wish, as long as it's in our power." River nodded in agreement with this reward. The earthling had just been granted a request from the royal family of Mewni, that's no easy-feat. _What do I ask for? I mean I can't be greedy, but I don't want anything, do I? What do I want? Uhh… What do I say!?_

"Can I…" The two royalties looked up at his start, "Have some time to think about it?" A sheepish Marco stumbled to get it out.

Queen Moon smiled at the boy and replied, "Of course." That was when Tom finally arrived.

"Hey." He grumbled with a rub to his eye, evidently still tired. He joined onto the table they all sat around and ordered one of the servants to bring him some water, after looking around a little more he noticed that River had a few small cuts on the left of his cheek. Probably where the Widow took his blood from, he also had a few small – but dark, bruises on his arms. Anything else was buried underneath his robes. "So… What's the plan?" He asked, now sipping his water and glancing over to Marco who was lost in thought until now.

A few moments passed before Marco let out a slight sigh, "I don't know… It's not my move."

"It's, not your what?" Asked Tom, seemingly confused by what Marco just said.

"Like it said… This is a board game, with all of us being the chess pieces. When I confronted the Widow, I made my move on it. The best strategy is to wait and see what it does." Everyone seemed to be in a unanimous agreement on the fact, except for Tom who couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"The hell Marco!? What if people are dying out there, right now! What if we could help?! I thought you weren't a coward anymore." He had risen out of his seating now, staring down Marco who didn't meet his gaze.

"I don't know alright. I'm scared… Yes, it might be on the hunt now, but I'm not willing to risk our lives for a 'might'." After staring at Marco in a face of disgust for a moment, Tom left. Another sigh escaped Marco's lips.

"Don't worry," Queen Moon started, "I'm sure he'll come around. He's smart, maybe a little quick-to-the-draw, but I think, that he left because he knew you were right."

This consolation had little effect on Marco, he let out a short and abrupt, "Yeah."

 _ **1 Hour Later**_

Star had said farewell to her parents and began to leave for the door, Marco followed. "What are we going to do now Star?" He asked, wanting to let her make the decision on what they should do for what seemed like a long time.

"We prepare for it's move." She said, eyes full of determination and a fire that burned stronger than ever.

"Eclipsa's?" He asked.

"Eclipsa's."

 _ **Star's Room**_

"Tom?" Marco asked, wanting to grab Tom before going to the tower, _Oh he's not here._

"We can't wait forever Marco," Star said, "We should just get going, maybe he's already there."

"Yeah… Maybe." The Diaz didn't sound too convinced. Star walked over to the painting in her room and began to chant.

"Wall I command thee, open thyself and let me be free. Take me from where I stand, bring forth another path to take me to an outland." The wall then began to crack and open up – silently it swished open, creating a gust of wind that seemed more powerful that the last time Star used the tunnel.

Once in the two walked around for about 30 minutes. Star was adamant that she knew which way to go, but as they progressed, and time did with them, Marco pleaded for her to get the eye out, after half another of this pleading she eventually, begrudgingly agreed. After saying the spell, a hole in time-space formed, purple energy flowed outwards and lit up the tunnel, "Eye can you take me to Eclipsa's again." Despite being a singular eye, it was made very clear that it didn't like being called upon because she was lost in a tunnel: Again.

Once they had arrived at the entrance, Star knocked 3 times to try and get Eclipsa's attention. After a minute of waiting around the hatch was lifted by the obscenely strong woman once more.

"You're late." She said in a harsh voice. "Making me train you at all is bad enough, but then being late to said training. That's just cruel."

"But… You asked us to train with you."

"Hush hush now." She quickly added while pulling the two out from the tunnel. She then led them towards yet another wall that had a curtain drawn before it, she pulled it to the side and there laid a dimensional gate. It was strange, a rainbow dimension which kept shifting colours.

"In." The witch commanded, they both obeyed. When they entered it felt exactly like Mewni, too much like Mewni honestly.

"Where are we?" Marco asked, gazing around the area.

"Mewni." She said in her regular chirpy tone. Both teens gave her a questioning look before she explained.

"Obviously, without a wand or dimensional scissors there's a limit to how much magic I can produce. So, this gate doesn't take you throughout the multi-verse, but instead throughout the dimension your in. It has a maximum limit of about 23 crowns though."

"Crowns?" Marco again asked.

"Oh… I suppose one crown is about to about 0.3 kilometres on your Earth. Anyways, with that explained. Let's get into training. Star, you'll be training in strengthening your body, until you can lift that cover in the tower with one hand." Star's jaw practically dropped at this demand, "Marco. You'll be training in hand-to-hand combat."

"With who?" He asked.

"With them," Eclipsa stated, pointing towards a group of what looked like minotaurs, the centre one was cracking his hands. Like the way Star processed her request, Marco's jaw practically hit the floor followed by a slight whine escaping. "Tom is already training, you two should get going too."

"He's training?" Star asked, "Where?"

"I used some of his demonic power to open a dimensional gate into a space where it shows you your worst nightmares and fears. Hopefully that'll get him to move on past it, or scare him for life… Whatever. Now you should get going." She said before picking up a glass of water and sitting down, one of the smaller minotaurs charged at Marco – instinctively he blocked and had now been dragged into a battle for his life.

"Star, you'll be carrying all those items over there to me for today." She commanded with another point towards a group of items, maybe thirty? Give or take, varying in size.

"That's it?" She asked in disbelief. Eclipsa gave a sly wink and giggle at this.

"Just try picking one of them up." She smiled. As told to, Star wandered over to the first item, a dish, however, once she had tried to lift it. She was met with an unreasonable amount of weight, it felt like 10 kilos, and this was just a small dish. Her face dropped when she noticed that one of the items for a full-sized armchair.

"Be quick on that armchair too, my back is already hurting from sitting on this grass."

 _ **Somewhere**_

"Hey Thawn, what were you doing yesterday going to that palace? You could've gotten yourself killed." A gruff, broken voice called out from a shadow.

A black silhouette faced the area from which that voice emitted and spoke, "I've taken an interest in that human. I think he may have delivered some reason to my existence."

"Oh? You with a reason to live? What a shocker." It mocked in return, "But what would you do if I were to kill the boy before he reached his pea—"

In the blink of an eye, before any sound could travel even a few meters, the Widow had appeared behind the other entity with cold-blooded eyes. Leaning in to it's ears, it spoke "You touch him, and no matter what size you become, I will break you into a thousand pieces." The somewhat mysterious atmosphere which surrounded the mimic before had been replaced by a deadly, bleak one which no happy words could dispel.

"Okay, whatever you say Thawn. Just be careful, because I might have to take an interest in him too."

* * *

 **End Notes:** Ooooo! We have more strange entities now than just the Widow! That's interesting, and I pray that Star doesn't break her arms when trying to carry that stuff, must weight a tonne xD

Regardless, I wanted Eclipsa to become more of a tough-love mentor to the squad, someone who was far out of their league and given the wand could probably destroy the Widow. But I think she's more of neither hero or villain - I can't remember the word for it - but she's a good person, just goes about it in a wrong way, kind of.

Anywhoo, reviews give me motivation, nothing I haven't stated a thousand-times over.

Twitter is vKAtFanfic_Net , follow if you want updates or to contact me outside of reviews/PMs.

Peace~


	7. Closing Statement

Ok... Here we go. I messed up, bad. And I'm sorry to everyone for that. After a lot of consideration and thought on it, I've decided that I need to discontinue this story. I enjoyed it, for the start. And I thought it had potential, but looking at everything that's going on in my life and the story: I can't fix it. I took on too big a job too soon and I've messed it up so bad that it just can't get any traction anymore.

Plus, the more that I've been writing it, the less driven I've become in writing it, to the point where I don't even want to write anymore. So, yeah... Once my Christmas mocks are out the way and I have time to chill out a bit, I'll return to upload another story, one that'll be on a much smaller scale.

Thank you for reading, you've all been fantastic.

vK signing off,  
Peace~


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